Thursday, June 16, 2011

Yo ho, yo ho, it's a pirate's life for me, drink up me hearties yo ho (Captain Jack Sparrow)

Why are pirates called pirates?
Because they ARRRRRRRRRRRRR.

I posted a while ago on the fourth Pirates of the Caribbeen movie and made some comments on the first three that, of course, Samantha disagreed.

She loves them for good reason - a big one being the soundtrack by Hans Zimmer (although the first movie was scored by Klaus Badelt, Zimmer did the t'other three me hearties). I would think that Orlando Bloom is also a drawcard, not sure why. She also loves the stories and the pirate vibe I'm sure (and which nice girl doesn't love a pirate?).

To be fair to Fanfa I decided to watch the other three again recently. I managed to pick them all up cheaply from the local Al Ain stores. We (Brian, SWMBO and moi) watched them one after the other in two days.

I love that first film (The Curse Of The Black Pearl). I laughed again at all the same places (and there are many places in that first movie). It's just a great film.

The highlights are Johnny Depp's inspired pirate caricature, Keira Knightley's feisty damsel in distress, Kevin McNally's Gibbs, and Geoffrey Rush's Barbossa. An awesome cast.

The plot is not worth thinking about but the pace and humour make the movie zip by for me.


The second one (Dead Man's Chest) is the weakest in terms of plot and pace but it looks great. Elizabeth Swan is even more feisty and the rest of the cast returns and again make the film watchable.

The problems are the lack of humour, the writing (no killer lines), the Kracken and the pace of the film.

Unlike Godfather II, The Empire Strikes Back and other 'middle' films, Dead Man's Chest; for me, drags - mainly because they are setting up for the third, to be continued film and they therefore stretch stuff out.

The kracken as a monster from the deep is lame. Like the movie versions of the Hulk it's so improbable it's daft.

The third film (At World's End)  is similar to The Two Towers, in that I actually enjoyed it much more this time around.

Again it looks great, the actors are back again, Keef the human riff makes an appearance and Barbossa's part is beefed up (his presence is missed in part 2).

I didn't notice it dragging this time either. The action sequences could do with a trimming but on the whole I take back my earlier statement that the last one (at the time) is rubbish.

I know I went to see it with the girls (Fanfa, Spade and SWMBO) with the wrong attitude thanks to the second film. I think I'm finally over that and now I can enjoy the third film without that baggage.

How's that for a reassessment SMP?

Love and peace - Wozza

P.S. We went to see latest XMen film yesterday and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Okay I love January Jones and she's hard to tear your eyes away from and, yes, there were scantily clad women dotted around the film...okay - lots of scantily clad women in the film...but the story is good and the effects do not overshadow the actors or plot. Oh and did I mention that January Jones is in it?

1 comment:

dawn marie giegerich said...

And I always thought it was AAAAARRRRGH! I could watch the paint dry on a wall for three hours as long as John was sitting in front of it.